Common Goal
by KeisoCat
Summary: When Jaune realized he needed to work on his cardio, he went back to his childhood roots and decided to play and relearn Pump It Up! However, whilst playing, he found a kid doing the same thing, and Jaune saw him struggling, thus agreed to teach the kid the game. However, who would've thought teaching someone a simple game would get you so much respect and more.
1. Chapter 1

"You've improved quite a lot, Jaune." Pants could be heard across the whole training arena, with team JNPR equipped with their weapons. "Some could say you aren't the same person anymore when it comes to combat."

"As much as I like that Ren, I don't think I believe that yet. I'm running on fumes right now." To say that Jaune is exhausted is an understatement. His body is pretty much yelling 'RED ALERT, PREPARE FOR SHUT DOWN'. "I need to work on my cardio and stamina."

"Why don't we just make you run around the school, two laps, everyday, and must make it below 10 minutes?"

"There's a difference between cardio and hurting yourself, Nora." Ren replied, seeing Nora pout a little. "But running is a pretty good start. Have any ideas Pyrrha?" Pyrrha was in a world of thought before Jaune came up and grabbed her shoulders.

"Actually, I think I can handle this one. You guys have done so much for me, I don't think I can ever repay you guys." Jaune smiled looking at his family-like team. "But I have a vague idea of what I'm gonna do." Nora looked at him suspiciously until she had a lightbulb going up, knowing what that 'vague idea' is.

"Wait Jaune, you aren't talking about "Pump It Up", are you?" Nora remember Jaune mentioning something about the game. Everyone eye'd their leader, thinking that a simple arcade machine will ever do. "Do you really think it'll be that efficient?" At this point, Jaune would scratch behind his head and would start talking nervously. However, they still saw him with his shoulder's up and still looking proud.

"It won't be, unless you play at my level of course." Jaune looked through his scroll to find an old score of his years ago, managing to full combo Gargoyle, S21, with a double SS. Nora stared at his screen, with her jaw basically dropping on the floor, amazed at his judgement and keeping his greats only in the double digits. "This was about 3 years ago however, so I might have to de-rust myself with some other songs before I might step onto harder new songs, maybe I might even have to relearn doubles."

"Jaune, what was your screen name?" Nora asked.

"ShiningWolf."

"WHAT!" Both Ren and Pyrrha were startled at the pitch Nora had shouted, whilst the person in subject is basically quivering in her boots.

"Um, can someone fill us in?" Pyrrha asking, wanting a simple explanation.

"Jaune was top 10 in the rankings about three to four years ago!" Nora explained. Ren, having some idea of what the game was like, was taken aback by Nora's statement, as they were practically in the same room with a Pump It Up legend. "Jaune, why did you stop?!"

"Eh, I honestly didn't have access to any arcades, so I just couldn't play is all, but that might all change this week. See? I still have my AM Pass." Jaune chuckled as he took out his wallet to show the same pass he used 5 years ago. "Heard there was an arcade in the Vale market area, so I might stop by there and see if they have the cabinet."

"Okay, one last question." Nora walked up to him, with a face that could be taken as a serious threat if people didn't know who Nora was.

"What is it?"

"Could you sign my AM Pass?" Nora showed her pass, with both of her hands extending, with her eyes twinkling what could to see to pass as stars. Jaune chuckled to himself due to the amusement he was getting.

"I don't have a marker or pen of some sort right now, but when we head back to our dorms, I will." Nora leaped fifty feet into the air and started rushing towards their dorm, wanting that signature. Jaune chuckled again as he followed suit.

"So, I didn't know what happened in the last five minutes, but are you sure that it will be enough for cardio?" Pyrrha showing a little worry, as this was just an arcade cabinet game they were talking about. Ren came up to ease her worries as he rested his hand on her shoulders.

"Trust him, at the level he plays at, if he's at it for a good five to six hours, then it will be good enough for him." Pyrrha was unsure why she was feeling a lot more calmer, but nonetheless she trusted the green ninja and smiled. They both look at each other for confirmation then headed back to their friends who was known as a Pump It Up legend and a very big fan of said legend.

**ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**

_I need to think of another way to get to Vale._ The queasiness was already getting to Jaune and was lucky enough that the trip from Vale to Beacon was short enough he wouldn't throw up. How he didn't lose his lunch after playing Pump It Up for hours compared to a simple flight? The world will never know. After finally getting the hang of his balance and managing to stop thinking about air travel, Jaune made his way throughout Vale to find the arcade it that was mentioned. It was roughly about three in the afternoon, which they trained in the morning, ate, and proceeded to hear nonstop from Nora about how amazing Jaune truly is at this game. As Jaune was going to invite Nora to play, Ren stopped her as they still haven't started Port's paper, in which made Nora pout more. Jaune was lucky enough to have finished it with Pyrrha.

_I remember it someone around the corner_. As Jaune started to take a turn, he heard an automatic door opening from a shop, hearing a far too similar tune inside. Walking towards the arcade, named 'Dust Bros.' with a red and green dust crystal with funny looking hats on top of their heads. Entering in, he could hear his childhood come back to life, with many cabinets playing lively music to which people might say is just noise. Sound Voltex. Dancerush Stardom. EZ2DJ. These are just to name the few he has dabbled around with and enjoyed. Walking up to the owner of the store, they both looked at each other. The grey faunus cat had this glimmer in his eye and he just knew. Rhythm gamer to a rhythm gamer. With that understanding, he pointed to the back, knowing what legend was looking for. Jaune nodded his head in thanks and headed towards the Lien exchanger. Grabbing a twenty out of his wallet, for him to dispense out 20 ones. Grabbing them and stuffing into his pocket, he started to slowly walk to his heaven, not only to bask in the music around him, but to slowly steady himself to make sure he has the balance to not fall off the machine, despite there being a bar. Finally coming up to this bright cabinet, he smiled as he see the logo he hasn't seen in years. Pump It Up, with its current edition being XX, the 20th anniversary of the game. He put his towel on the bar, went up to put the lien in, and scanned his card. He stepped on the middle, and told to himself, _"It's time to get up and dance, man."_

**ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**

"Okay, I DO NOT remember it being this tough..." Jaune was panting after a half an hour of playing normal songs, and was already struggling with playing 15S and 12D. "I guess de-rusting myself will take LONG than I thought." Jaune was exhausted despite the fact it's only been 30 minutes of play time and was pretty disappointed that's all that he lasted. He grabbed his towel from the bar and sat on the stool near the machine. Wiping the sweat of his forehead and arms, he just started to practically self-loathe in himself, realizing he won't get back to where he was before, not for awhile anyways.

"Nice judgement on Super Fantasy 14, by the way." Jaune was startled by what sounded like a young teenager. Spinning around, he confirmed that what he did hear was a teenager, with hair you could say came out of an anime, since it looked so messy yet neat at the same time. "I'm still struggling on the judgment and not getting greats, despite the fact that it's only holds." He stood there with his arms crossed and was wearing some athletic wear, like he was going to step on the machine as well.

"You here to play?" Jaune asked to confirm his suspicions again. The kid nodded whilst putting his water bottle down in the basket near the side of the machine. "Singles or doubles?"

"Singles, I can't read doubles at all, so I'm going to start with singles then learn doubles or just be a singles player." The kid looked up at Jaune and gave a small grin. "Would you like to join me, or are you going to play doubles?" Jaune looked at the kid and gave the small grin he gave. Like he wasn't going to back down playing Pump It Up with another person. Great things about playing with another guy is not only could you widen your song lists since you both get to choose, but you also get to suffer and celebrate the each others scores. There are so many positives with playing with another person, Jaune isn't going to back down on such a good offer.

"What levels you play?"

"I'm a bit lower on the level scale, playing 11 and 12 singles." He showed his hand out to Jaune as to offer picking him up, in which Jaune responded with his hand and pulled himself up.

"Well then, shall we get start?" Jaune walked up to put in another single lien and scanned him AM pass, which the kid responded the same after Jaune stepped on the pads.

**ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**

Jaune realized after a few more rounds that the kid is just starting. He was starting to learn crossovers and is still definitely struggling with them. Either he would reuse his feet to crossover his crossover, or just not crossover at all, two bad habits Jaune had to learn out of quick. The kid looked down on himself every time he screwed it up, and would cuss to himself on a broken score, even if it's an A.

"How long have you been playing for?"

"Only 2 months since getting here, why?" Jaune's suspicions were confirmed again, thus all of a sudden he's been getting ideas. Pyrrha has been helping him train in combat, while Ren and Nora has making sure he's been getting in shape. He figured, _if I can't help them back, then I could help someone else._

"How would you feel if I taught you how to play?" Jaune asked, lowkey hoping to hear yes from him. The response he got was not what he expected.

"Wait, really? Are you actually willing to teach me?" The kid responded with what seem to be glowing bright eyes of happiness, not only just having someone teach the game, but to play the game with as well? "I'm a bit of a klutz and I can't even see myself trip all the time, and it would be constant trouble whil-"

"Let me cut you off right there. Those are just stepping stones, as we all to learn habits and break them. So do not be afraid to make mistakes. I'll be there to make sure to tell you what they are and help you not make those mistakes." Jaune smiled but was not expecting a tackle-like hug.

"Thank you so much!" The kid was practically hugging Jaune, which he didn't expect, considering he thought his personality was more calm and collected. _He really is just a kid_.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Jaune. I'm 17" He lift his arm, initiating a handshake.

"Lee, and I'm 13. It's nice to meet you, Jaune." Lee took the handshake, look at the clock behind the cabinet, and put himself in a near panic state. "Crap! I need to get home quick, my mom is gonna be worried." Jaune looked back at the clock and realized it's currently 5:24. Jaune was startled by a sudden scroll in front of him. "Could you put your scroll number on here so we can get our schedules set?" Jaune smiled and inserted his contacts.

"Going to be alright?" Jaune asking while seeing Lee quickly grabbing his stuff together.

"Yeah, my house is only 3 minutes away after all." Lee looked back at Jaune. "Okay, gotta go, see ya!" Lee made a mad dash towards the front door and went out to go home. Jaune looked a the clock a second time and made the idea to play a few more rounds before going home.

**ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**

Lee rushed into the door, opening to reveal a simple couch and television. "I'm home!" Lee yelled to the supposed empty house until he heard from the kitchen.

"Lee, do you know what time it is?" His mother asked while walking out from the kitchen. His mother had raven like hair, so long it reached down to her back. "It's nearly 5:30, did we not talk about curfew?

"Mom, relax, I was having fun with someone I met and he's willing to teach me Pump It Up!" He placed his water bottle on the coffee table and took a seat on the couch. "His name was Jaune, by the way." Lee was positive that his mother flinched hearing the name of a Beacon student. "Relax, I'll make sure he doesn't know."

"Please, just be careful who you talk to and hang out with. I'd rather not us move to another location." His mom grabbed a couple of things and was wearing some type of hoodie. "I need to go out and talk to a company that has bad relations ever since we were found out, I got to fix relations what I can."

"Just, don't get arrested mom, that's all I ask." As Lee was laying down, his mother scoffed and the chuckled softly. His mom went up, kissed his forehead, and headed towards the door. Before she exited, she said loud enough for Lee to hear.

"Me? Arrested? This is your mother, Cinder Fall we are talking about, my son." As she left, Lee chuckled to himself as his tiredness grew stronger and his eyelids dropped.

* * *

Hi. I'm Keiso and this is just a crackship of mines I feel as if I need to fulfill. Right now, I'm going to be honest. I do not know if I can be consistent enough to upload every week or so, since I am currently in school. However, I will update as much as possible and keep this updated. I will promise I will finish this story before my school year ends. As for why Pump It Up, I'm Korean and play the game way too often, so I said why not. Pump It Up terms will be explained if it's needed, most likely in the next chapter. Anyways, I will immediately work on the next chapter now. Ciao.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking back to Beacon, Jaune had roughly spent the night away until he was confident enough to play 16 and 17 singles. However, considering that it was currently 9:23 in the evening, his teammates are probably worried. Walking back to his dorm, he looked back at the transfer dorm's hallway and had a small tinge of anger, remembering about the infiltrators that were found out a month ago, during the Vytal tournament. It still disappoints him that they didn't manage to capture them, but nonetheless was furious that they were going to harm his friends, _his family_. Shaking away the rage, he continued forward back to his dorm, scanning his scroll and opening away to see, from right to left, Ren reading his book, Nora doing Nora, and a very worried looking Pyrrha. Pyrrha looked up and her facial expressions relaxed to see Jaune open the door and walk in.

"Jaune, where were you? Are you safe? Did you break any bones, tore muscles, any of the sorts?"

"Pyrrha, calm down, I am fine, everything is fine." Jaune put his hands on her shoulders to motion to relax. "I was just really trying my best to de-rust, I don't have the stamina I had back then, so I was pushing myself is all."

"Well, that's what happens when you stop playing for three years, dummy!" Nora stuck her tongue out on Jaune, mocking him.

"Well, I'm sorry I did not have nearby access to an arcade, Nora. Now if you excuse me, I am going to take a shower and probably die in my sleep." Pyrrha and Nora giggled at that while Ren smiled. Jaune headed inside their bathroom, and started stripping with a few things in his mind. One, how much de-rusting he would have to do in order to play up to 20s again. And two, now he's also promised that he is going to teach a kid how to play the game. Despite that he was okay, to do both at the same time would be a lot harder than it sounds, but he always told himself all the time. That an Arc never goes back on his word.

**ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**

Cinder was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding the light to keep herself hidden as she quickly traveling to catch the late meeting in the White Fang warehouse. Ever since someone opened their mouths, Cinder's job became a lot harder to manage on trying to take down Beacon. Nonetheless, Salem's words were "Just get the job done", which was vague, but at least that means she's not needed back, away from Lee. Away from her son. She did not to keep Lee unattended. Despite the fact that she is cold-hearted to her subordinates, she actually grew to be a very kind mother. It didn't help much that she had this job with her, but seeing as despite the fact that she is seen as the villain, Lee would love her nonetheless, and that won her affection and protection until the end. If there is one thing clear now, is that her son comes first.

However, that would have to say that working with the queen of grimm would come second, and sadly she must follow the orders of "Take down Beacon" because well, like she would have any other choice. Sadly, ties with the White Fang wasn't so clean, since they weren't promised the destruction of Beacon and Adam getting his 'revenge' or whatever he called it. It didn't help that she was just as frustrated, that all of her plans came toppling down, with no back ups. Looking at her scroll, Cinder realized that she was on top of the warehouse, only to find it near empty. Dropping down from the open hatch, she catches herself and looked around to find a small little office with the lights on and what seems to be Roman waving his staff around. Cinder rolled her eyes, then walked up to the door and open it.

"-can say all you want, but it's safe to say some stupid ass White Fang of yours just didn't seem to keep his mouth shut!" Roman yelled in front of Adam, to which a bunch of people, including Emerald and Mercury, thought was stupid and brave.

"Don't you DARE point at our cause for your sloppy mistakes, filth. All we've been doing is staying stand by, waiting for the woman's orders. To which she didn't give any" Adam nodded towards Cinder, to which she approached with a death stare in her eyes.

"Adam, I would watch who you become enemies with, considering the White Fang is short on people themselves lately, here in Vale." Cinder commented, and if it wasn't already hot enough in the room, it was getting hotter.

"Is that a threat, fire woman?"

"Call it what you will." Cinder didn't hesitate. Everyone who's sided with Cinder looked at her wide eye'd, as if she grew another head.

"This meeting is finished. All of you leave." Adam walked up to Cinder and whispered to her ear. "We were allies today, but come tomorrow, and I will not hesitate to kill everyone one of you." Cinder scoffed and just smiled back at him as he stepped back and went to go sit down.

"Let's go, we have wasted time with them enough." Cinder turned around with everyone else following behind. After walking out of the office, Roman grabbed the first cigar he could find in his jacket and puffed it.

"So, that went well?" Roman shrugged while everyone else looked at the man who seem to be at fault.

"Mercury and Emerald, would you please elaborate what he has said during that entire meeting that felt impossible to save?" Cinder turned around with a smile that is positive to melt metal itself.

"Well, let's just say he started off blaming them, cussing them out, blaming them again, and threatened to kill them if they can't apologize." Mercury just gave his signature smirk while Emerald just shook her head at a bad, yet accurate explanation.

"Roman, please leave and do not show your face around me if you want to live." Roman chuckled then proceeded to walk away from the trio, wanting to live and rob another bank again. They were there in silence in Emerald cleared her throat.

"So, what do we do now, Cinder?" She gave a look that showed she felt sorry that everything Cinder worked for has basically went to shit.

"Nothing. I'll have to do something over the weekend to clean things up. For now, stay hidden and try not to get caught."

"So, don't go killing, stealing, and do stupid stuff. Got it." Mercury felt he had to say something just because he wanted to say something, maybe to cut tension or just because. "How's Leo?" Despite Emerald and Mercury are thieves and killers, they were also Leo's babysitters when Cinder has job, and they've grown to like the little guy.

"He's doing fine, however I do need one of you to spy on him whenever he goes to the arcade or go out. He's been hanging out with team JNPR's leader." Before Cinder could continue, Emerald cut in.

"Wasn't he like, the weakest, not only out of the team, but maybe the entire school?"

"Time passed, Emerald. Which means he could be trained to be otherwise. I hope so anyways, if he's hanging out with my kid." Cinder felt a bit tense knowing that Leo was spending time with Jaune, but as long as it's just him teaching how to play the game, it couldn't get any deeper than that, right?

"So, you just want us to watch the kid, and make sure nothing stupid happens. Got it." Mercury got his confirmation and started walking out. "Now if you excuse me, I'm tired and need to fix these screws. Unless we have something else tonight, I'll be near my scroll."

"Go on Emerald, we won't be doing anything today."

"Are you sure, Cinder? I could be doing something else." Emerald tried to rebuke, but is definitely showing want to go ahead with Mercury.

"Emerald, it's safe to say that you're almost like a kid to me as well, and it's obvious where your stupid feelings lie. Go ahead, you never know what will happen in the future." Cinder smirked as she saw Emerald blush and run up ahead to catch up with Mercury. As soon as Emerald was out of sight, she said to herself, "Ever since Leo, I gone softer. I do not know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Cinder looked at her scroll and climbed back up through the skylight.

**ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ**

Adam is pacing back and forth, thinking whether he should hurt Roman and his smartass mouth or Cinder just for being a natural bitch. In fact, he was pacing back and forth so much, he didn't notice Perry come into the room and clear his throat a few times. After the fifth cough, which was followed up by a pat on the back, Adam looked up with fire in his eyes.

"What?" Adam growled/

"I think I found information that could be necessary, however I need further research upon it." Perry said in a monotone voice, hinting at nothing. "I need permission to do this research, alone." Adam stared at his, as if he grew a head. Information? Like that could be easily leaked by Cinder and her stupid cronies. However, considering they also have nothing on her…

"Get it done, and do not get caught." Perry bowed and walked away, as Adam turned around and proceeded to pace the room again, leaving things to his imagination.

* * *

Short chapter for two things. One, where we are in the AU, as there are many things that are different and will be different. Two, to show how much Leo has changed Cinder as a character. Yes, it is very OOC, but later there will be practically more development for her, new chapter hopefully will come in about next week. Until then. Ciao.


End file.
